


Making a Milkshake, Marrying a Man

by kancerously



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Drugs, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Gay Keith (Voltron), Ice Cream Parlors, Ice Cream Shop AU, Keith & Pidge | Katie Holt Friendship, Keith and Shiro are Adoptive Siblings, M/M, Sorry Not Sorry, Swearing, Trans Female Pidge | Katie Holt, keith is very ooc, klance, let them say fuck!, no mullet jokes because im TIRED, sorry guys theyre teenagers they do drugs and swear i don't make the rules, they're all on earth idk, wait actually they're all ooc oops
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-22
Updated: 2018-09-03
Packaged: 2018-11-17 09:26:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,929
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11272659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kancerously/pseuds/kancerously
Summary: Keith passes the finished shake to Lance and definitely doesn’t watch the other boy’s chapped lips wrap around the straw.Lance's eyes flutter shut as he gulps. Then they snap open, pupils blown.“Marry me.” He demands.“Wh-what?” Keith splutters, cheeks flushing crimson.“Marry me!”“Um, no.”--In which Keith works at an ice cream shop. He's convinced that one Lance McClain will be the death of him. Well, that or boredom.NOTICE: this fic has been abandoned permanently, chaper 4 is all my notes for the rest of the fic if you wanted to see where i was headed with it :/





	1. Melting

Keith was dying. Or at least, he was convinced he was. The shop had been deserted for the past two hours, which was unusual, considering the fact that it was just after eight p.m. on a hot summer day. He had managed to keep himself busy by watching other people’s Friday nights through snapchat and cleaning equipment. But there was only so much sweeping one teenage boy could handle before he begins to lose his mind.

Keith debates closing up early. Picturing Shiro's disappointed face, and the subsequent lecture about being respectful of other people's livelihood, he decides against it and instead wipes down the counter for the fifth time in the past thirty minutes. He was _dying_.

The owners--his brother's girlfriend, Allura, and her uncle, Coran--were out of town for the weekend. They had entrusted Keith with the keys to their tiny ice cream shop, Altea Sweet Treats, asking him to run the place until they got back. The teen didn’t mind it though. Managing the shop just meant free range the stereo and as many snacks as he desired.

In the present, Keith hums along to a song by Brand New playing quietly in the background. He perches himself on his stool behind the register and allows his head to drop to the counter with a muffled thud. He prays to what ever benevolent god might be listening, asking for something--anything--to happen that might alleviate his boredom. He pulls out his phone and opens a text to Pidge. 

 

To: Katie

_Pidge... Katie... Pidgey... Please help. I'm dying._

 

He get's a response in less than a minute.

 

From: Katie

**_keith... keithy... keithers... no you aren't. you're just bored. you'll be fine_ **

From: Katie

_**also, i rented space balls and my mom bought us hot pockets, so come on over after you close. and bring me a peanut butter malt. now stop bugging me and go clean something.** _

__

Keith groans and runs a hand over his face, his best friend's promise of amazing cinematography and hot pockets strengthening his morale--if only a little. 

The door swings open with a bang and Keith's head snaps back up. The first thing he notices about the customer is that he reeks of weed. The second is that he’s dressed like a douche, muscle tank and snap back and Nike slides and all. That being said, he was an _attractive_ douche. 

Keith cries internally. He had a hard enough time dealing with customers who had the munchies to begin with. Dealing with hot customers who happened to also have the munchies was a recipe for disaster.

The boy grins lazily at him. Keith sighs.

“Hey, what can I get for you tonight?"

The boy freezes. “Uh,” he says, looking lost.

Keith bites his cheek to stop himself from saying something he’ll regret. He glances at the boy again, ~~eyes raking down his tall frame~~ taking in his appearance. 

“How about a chocolate-marshmallow milkshake?”

The boy’s blue eyes light up. He nods enthusiastically. Keith rolls his eyes and rings him up.

“I’m Lance,” the boy informs Keith as he gets to work on the shake.

“Nice.” He grunts, scooping marshmallow sauce into the cup.

Lance's eyes follow Keith's hands as he adds milk to the mix. He clears his throat.

“What’s your name?”

Keith glances up at him and fights off a smile. “Shawn.”

Lance shakes his head. “No it's not. I know you, I think. You hang out with that Pigeon girl. And besides, you don’t look like a Shawn,” He says accusingly.

Kieth shrugs, chuckling as he turns to blend the shake. He promises himself he'll mention the pigeon girl thing to Pidge when he sees her later.

“Please dude? Tell me your name,” Lance whines.

Keith turns around, grabbing whipped cream to top it off.

“It’s Keith,” he mumbles, and if his stomach flips when Lance cheers, well, he just blames it on the sundae he had made himself earlier.

Keith passes the finished shake to Lance and definitely doesn’t watch the other boy’s chapped lips wrap around the straw.

Lance's eyes flutter shut as he gulps. Then they snap open, pupils blown.

“Marry me.” He demands.

“Wh-what?” Keith splutters, cheeks flushing crimson.

“Marry me!”

“Um, no.”

Lance pouts, bottom lip jutting out comically.

Keith busies himself with cleaning the mixing machine, decidedly not looking anywhere near the other boy.

When he's managed to fight the dusting of pink off his cheeks, he glances up again to see Lance smiling. His stomach does another flip.

“Fine, no marriage. But at least give me your number?”

“What? No dude.”Keith shakes his head.

Internally he slaps himself. He just blew off an incredibly cute boy. _What actual fuck was he thinking._

“Come on, please? What if I have an emergency and I need another uh--” He pauses and gestures to his shake.

Keith rolls his eyes.

“You know where I work.”

Lance pouts again, looking up at him through dark eyelashes. Keith's breath catches. He curses to himself.

“Okay fine,” he relents, ignoring Lance's whoop of glee, “but no texting me while you’re stoned. Oh and by the way, you reek.”

Lance rolls his eyes and passes Keith his phone.

\--

Five minutes later Lance leaves the tiny ice cream shop with a half finished malt and the number of one very flustered ice cream shop worker.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey what is upp. so you might notice that i have another fic that starts exactly the same, but with a different ship, and well. i really liked this idea so i re-wrote it for a show that i like more lmao so. here u are. any way. i hc shiro as keith's adoptive brother? like his parents adopted keith or smth. and im so not good at writing arguments so for my sake, the bois (keef and legs) get along (kind of?) from the get go. and theyre in high school, so as a high schooler, i feel like it's my duty to write them having the full american high school experience. which. pretty much just involves marijuana and bad ideas, so here we are.


	2. Of Malts and Men

“He cwed m’ wuht!?”

Keith tries to stop giggling long enough to swallow his food. He clears his throat.

“Yeah he called you ‘that pigeon girl’.”

Pidge slumps over onto her side, groaning, and brings her feet up to rest on Keith’s lap. She drapes one arm over her face dramatically, and lets the other fall to the ground to grab her malt before bringing it to her mouth and taking a sip. She smacks her lips and then continues.

“It’s Pidge! I don’t understand why that’s such a hard concept for some people to grasp.”

"To be fair, you do have a nickname that just begs to be mocked."

She glares at him.

"Oh whatever you bitch."

Keith lets out another round of giggles in response.

They fall silent, basking in the languid vibes resulting from the weed brownies they’d eaten earlier. The two friends were currently holed up on a musty couch in Pidge’s basement. The room was dark save for the soft glow of the TV, a lone strand of Christmas lights draped lazily over a bookshelf, and the handful of glow-in-the dark stars Matt had stuck on the ceiling years ago. In middle school, Keith and Pidge had decided it would be their “bunker”, and it’s been where they’ve been hanging out ever since.

A loud noise from the movie pulls Keith’s attention back to the screen. He stares at it for a moment, trying to concentrate as hard as someone in an edible induced stupor can, before realizing that _Spaceballs_ was nearly over. When had that happend?

Keith is drawn from his pondering when Pidge suddenly kicks him in the stomach. He lets out an ‘oof’ before leaning over to pinch her arm, glaring.

“What the hell, Keith?” Pidge shrieks, not having anticipated the retaliation.

“You kicked me first, remember?”

Behind the reflection of the tv on her glasses, Keith catches her roll her eyes. He pinches her again.

“Ow, fucking stop dude! Besides, I only kicked you because I had a question.”

A impish grin slowly makes its way to her lips.

“You called that guy cute.” She states, matter-of-factly.

Heat rises to Keith’s cheeks.

“Nuh uh.” He says, shaking his head indignantly.

“Oh, yes you did. And you got his number. So why don’t you text him?”

“Okay, first, I didn’t get his number. He forced me to give mine to him. And secondly, there’s no way in hell I’m going to do that.”

Pidge kicks him again.

"Hey!" He protests.

“That’s for being stupid.”

Keith sticks his tongue out at her and then sighs, forcing himself to sink lower onto the couch.

“It’s just…” He trails off, trying to organize the thoughts swirling around in his muddled brain.

Beside him, Pidge waits, silently observing him.

“Ugh. I don’t know. Words.”

She snorts.

“Wow, real eloquent buddy.”

Keith lightly slaps her on the leg.

“You know what I mean you gremlin.”

“Nope. Can’t say that I do.”

Keith throws his hands up in exclamation.

“Whatever!” He scrubs at his face, attempting to hide the blush growing on his pale skin.

“Ijustreallywanttodatehim.” He blurts, peeking out from behind his fingers to watch Pidge's reaction

She gives him a frustrated glare and then pushes herself into a sitting position, tucking her knees to her chest and resting her chin on them.

“Keith buddy, just do it.”

He groans and lets his hands fall into his lap.

“It’s not that simple! He’s so hot--I don’t want to ruin things by being myself.”

Pidge shoves him.

“You won’t ruin things by being yourself, you fucking goon. You’re an amazing dude with a great tastes in conspiracy theories, and whoever tells you otherwise is a goddamn liar. And, not to mention, you've got that whole kind of bad boy thing going on, guys dig that shit. I think.”

Keith sighs and then flops over onto Pidge’s side.

“Thanks Katie.”

He pictures her rolling her eyes.

“Yeah, yeah. Now, should we restart _Star Trek_ , or do you wanna check out that new Mars documentary?”

After about ten minutes of bickering over what to watch, they settle for reruns of _The X Files_ and drift off into companionable silence. Half way through an episode about the Jersey Devil, Pidge shifts next to him, reaching and patting his head to get his attention.

“You don’t have to text him today, just promise me you won’t ruin this for yourself?”

She looks at him expectantly.

He concedes, albeit somewhat begrudgingly, and they go back to watching TV in a stoned haze.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> pidge is a lesbean(tm). keith is very gay.  
> yeah sorry. drugs. ya know.   
> this feels very clunky but?? idk how to fix it so here take it  
> i should be back with a new chapter really soon? i just feel like this one ended rather suddenly so


	3. Meeting

Keith stares at his phone, frustration growing by the second. On the screen is a text from an unsaved number.

 

From: ???

**_hey keith!! this is lance :D_ **

 

Keith’s fingers hover over the keyboard, lost. His brain scrambles for something to say.

 

Draft To: ???  
_Hey Lance, this is Keith._

 

He groans and backspaces, letting his phone fall onto the bed. Stupid.

Keith had spent the last fifteen minutes agonizing over how to respond to the cute boy who had come into the shop two days ago. He closes his eyes and inhales forcefully through his nose, before slowly releasing the breath through his mouth. He picks the phone back up from his mattress and begins typing. After a moment’s hesitation, he adds and emoticon and presses send.

 

To: ???  
_Hey Lance ;)_

 

Before he can begin to freak out about it, his phone begins playing The X Files theme. He answers the call and brings it to his ear.

“Hey Pidge,”

_“Keith! Are you busy right now?”_

“No, what’s up?

_“I may have arranged to pick up some more of Hunk’s brownies-”_

“Wait, wait, aren’t you going to meet with your doctor today about your top surgery?”

 _“Well yeah, but I forgot. Soooooo,”_ She draws out the ‘o’, _“I kinda need you to go meet him for me?”_

Keith sighs.

 _“Please Keithers?”_   
“Yeah I mean, fine, I guess.”

_“Thank you so much. Wait, hang on. What’s wrong? And don’t you dare say ‘nothing’, I’m your best friend, I know when you’re lying to me young man.”_

 Keith grimaces and rubs his eye.

“I'm older than you! But uh, I responded to Lance,” He admits.

_“Woo! Nice! I’m proud of you! What did you say?”_

“I uh, said ‘Hey Lance’, and uh, I. Kind of. Might have also used the winky face emoji.” He spits out, the last sentence coming out in jumbled rush.

The line goes silent. Then, Pidge erupts into a fit of giggles.

 _“Keith,”_ she gasps, _“Oh my god buddy. You never use emojis!”_

“I know!” He exclaims grumpily.

_“Oh god, this is great. Keith, this boy has you whipped.”_

Her giggles meld into full bellied laughter. In the background, he hears someone ask a question.

 _“Oh, hey Matt, hey Allura! Yeah._ _Yup. Oh me? Keith just used the winky face emoji to flirt with a boy. I know right!!”_

Keith growls.

“Shut up or I’m not buying you those brownies.”

Pidge gasps in horror.

_“Keith wait, please! I need those brownies.”_

Keith sighs and rolls his eyes. Over the years, he’s found it harder and harder to stay angry at Pidge.

“Fine, but you’re not allowed to tell Shiro about the emoji.”

_“I promise I won’t. I swear on our sibling’s relationship.”_

“Thank you.”

_“But uh, Allura just did so, heads up.”_

Keith hangs up the call and rolls over to smother his face in a pillow.

He searches blindly for his phone, finding it tucked under his stomach. He unlocks it and checks to see if Lance has responded yet. He hasn’t. Keith makes a strangled noise at the back of his throat and shoves his head back into the pillow. A moment later, his phone buzzes. He launches himself into a sitting position and excitedly checks his notifications.

 

From: Katie

**_you’re meeting hunk in 30mins at that big ass voltron tree in arus park_ **

 

Keith pouts. He had wanted it to be Lance. He wiggles off his bed and lands on the floor, rolling so he can stare out the window above his desk. He props his chin up with his hand and watches a plane flying by, leaving white streaks in the otherwise empty sky. His phone buzzes again.

 

From: Katie

**_thanks chief_ **

 

Keith sets his phone down and closes his eyes. He waits a minute, and then gets up and begins getting ready to go. Right before he heads outside, he clicks on Lance’s number, creating a new contact and naming it “Lance ;)”.

\--

The walk from his house to Arus Park only takes Keith about five minutes, so he gets there early. He sits down on the swing set next to a large oak tree that the children of the neighborhood had questionably dubbed “voltron”. He kicks his feet back and forth, building momentum. His eyes drift up, tracing patterns in the clouds smeared over the azure sky. Keith tries to picture this Hunk guy, but he doesn’t have a clue in the slightest. He knows that Pidge met him last year in their AP Computer Science class. He also knows that despite not being someone who really does drugs, he sells a lot of edibles. The dude is renowned as a legendary chef and baker, and having tried his brownies first hand, Keith is inclined to agree.

“Hey!” Someone exclaims, startling him from his thoughts.

Keith jumps hard, heart beating fast. He focuses in on the person standing in front of him. Lance. His heart picks up the pace, although now for a different reason.

“Uh, hey!”

Lance grins, eyes shining. Keith feels the corners of his own mouth curl up in response.

“Whatcha doing here?” Lance asks, taking a seat on the swing next to him.

“I’m meeting this guy for my friend. She’s buying. Uh, something from him. She’s supposed to be here because I don’t really know the dude but she couldn’t make it. So yeah, I’m here instead.” He rambles.

Lance lets out a tiny snicker, face lit with mirth.

“Oh really? Huh. That’s funny because my friend is supposed to be selling,” he pauses and winks, “something to a girl. But he got sick so he couldn’t make it. So yeah, I’m here instead.” He mimics.

Keith fights down a grin, settling for a laughed breath.

“Okay, so we’re both here for the same thing.”

“Yup.” Lance says, popping the ‘p’.

He reaches into his jacket pocket and pulls out a bag with four brownies.

“So um,” he pauses, scratching the back of his neck, “Hunk’s selling these for 10 each, but I like you so I’m gonna give ‘em to you for 5.”

Keith’s breath stutters.

“Oh, um, thanks!”

He gives a Lance a small but genuine smile, relishing in the way the taller boy returns a dazzling one with ease.

He pulls out a twenty and hands it to Lance, grabbing the brownies with his other hand.

“So,” He starts, watching Lance tuck the money into his jeans with long, dexterous fingers.

A bead of sweat rolls down the back of Keith’s neck. He blames it on the scorching heat.

“So,” he continues, “I’m working tomorrow, if you wanted to swing by, I could make you that shake you liked so much.”

Keith examines the other boy’s face, searching to see if he had overstepped his bounds. Lance’s golden skin grows a shade more flushed, slowly spreading over his cheeks and the tops of his ears. Keith chalks this up to the temperature as well.

Lance chuckles.

“Sure, I’ll see you there! But uh actually I’m supposed to be making a few more uh, deliveries, for Hunk, and I’m kind of late so...”

“No, no, I understand! Do what you need to do.”

Lance sighs with relief, hoping off the swing.

“Great, thanks Keith. See ya around!” He shouts over his shoulder as he begins to jog towards the parking lot.

“Bye Lance,” Keith calls.

He just barely hears the other boy let out a melodic laugh.

Keith groans and gets off his swing. Pidge was right. He _was_ whipped.

As he tucks the brownies in his bag and turns to leave, his phone buzzes.

From: Lance ;)

**_its a date ;3_**

Keith can’t stop the grin that unfurls on his lips. He closes his eyes and lifts his face up, letting the sun warm his skin. For a moment, he allows himself to bask in the pleasant fluttering of his stomach and the fond thoughts about Lance flowing through his thoughts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so here we are. i actually have the rest of the fic planned out? i just have to write it so. yeah. pidge is gay and trans sorry i don't make the rules. also. pidge and lance both use the :3 while texting, and no one will be able to convince me otherwise.  
> anyway, comments would really be appreciated! lmk how i'm doing, or if i missed any mistakes while i was looking over it c:   
> thanks for reading!!


	4. i suck, sorry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> yeah so after what happened in s7 i kind of don't like voltron anymore?? and as a queer woman i knew that it was time to turn away from some hella toxic queer baiting so here we are. i wanna apologize to yall & offer my landscape notes for the last three chapters of this fic...

Chapter Four - Mix It Up

okay then i think that for chapter four? i'd do back at the ice cream shop? pidge is there keeping keith company and lance and hunk come in to get ice cream (and see keith on lances behalf) so they come in like 15mins before the end of keiths shift and pidge is like lets hang out at my place and keith and pidge had been dropped off by matt so they ride home in lances old shitty car and listen to pidge’s cryptid mix.

The next day found Keith back in the shop. He was busy refilling the napkins while Pidge was perched on the counter by the register. In the background, something vaguely techno crackled through the stereo. Keith hummed quietly to himself, pretending that he was still upset Pidge had one the rock-paper-scissors over who got to choose the music. While she had some questionable tastes in music, it wasn’t all bad.   
He’s almost done filling the last container with napkins when Pidge starts kicking her feet, heels hitting the wall with a dull ‘thud’ on every back swing. Keith closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. He turns back to his work, attempting to tune out his friend’s fidgeting. He grits his teeth when she starts tapping out a beat on the register with a pen. He keeps his mouth shut, understanding that the ice cream shop wasn’t a very fun place to hang out in.   
When she starts whistling, he snaps.  
“Pidge!” He scolds.  
She jumps, looking shocked for a moment as if she hadn’t realized what she’d been doing, and then rolls her eyes.  
“Sorry Keith-Kat,” She says sarcastically.   
He groans at the use of the terrible nickname.   
“Can you just, I don’t know, do something useful like help me clean?”  
“Sorry, no can do. I don’t work here!” She grins.  
“Yeah, and why’s that?” He teases, walking back behind the counter to stand next her.   
She sticks her tongue out at him.  
“Uh, because I’m a human disaster who shouldn’t be trusted around food preparation? Duh. And besides, the only reason you’re working here is because your brother is dating the owner.” She says indignantly.   
“So is yours!” Keith exclaims, crossing his arms.  
Behind them, the door swings open. The duo turns to see who it is, and a smirk finds its way to Pidge’s lips almost as fast as a light dusting of blood rush finds Keith’s cheekbones.  
“Hey Keith!” Lance calls with a grin. 

Chapter Five - 

Will be just them hanging at pidge’s again and getting high watching movies. Keith sneaks lance to pidge’s roof at two in the morning and they smoke at stare at the stars and each other in silence. Keith catches lance looking at him and sits up. Asks “can i kiss u”. Lance goes beet red (so does keith) and nods, grinning at him. They make out for a lil bit, and then lay back down to watch the stars, pressed side to side and holding hands. Lance falls asleep so keith wakes him up and puts him to sleep in pidge’s bed before he goes to work bc he opens the next day. 

Chapter Six - Make Up, Make Out

Is just keith at work like “oh my god i made out with a cute boy last night what is my life???” maybe shattllura make an appearance to tease him maybe idk. Any way. Lance texts keith like, where did u go? I need to talk to u?? Keith is like “i can’t rn i’m sorry i’m at work”. He gets a text from pidge like “wth keith, lance just came down stairs looking heart broken what happened??” keith explains what happened and pidge just goes “bro u messed up a lil u just left this boy after making out w him and then u blow him off” keith lets his head thump to the table oh yikes he fucked up again but wait-- Lance comes in and keith just goes,, “hey wait!! I’m sorry i left w/o telling u what was up,, i just had to work and u looked like u coulduse the sleep. I rly like u and i’m sorry if i fucked things up” and lance is just like *heart eyes* and decides to play him a bit and “aren’t u supposed to take my order” keith is :’( lance sees and is like “can i get a chocolate marshmallow milkshake and a kiss from the cute boy who stole my heart” and keith rolls his eyes and grabs him by the collar and pulls him in for a kiss. they flirt and lance asks him if he wants to go on a date with him keith says yes and lance is like “ight i’ll pick u up after work” so after work keith finds lance sitting on the hood of his car waiting for him, he walks up and they kiss. In between kisses Lance is like, “earlier i was going to ask you if you wanted to go out with me but i chickened out” keith is like oh. Oh! He kisses lance again and is like “well, ask me” lance slides his hands to keiths upper arms and pulls him away from him to look in his eyes “wanna be my boyfriend”. “Didn’t you already propose? You’re kind of doing this backwards buddy.” “keith,” lance whines. Keith rolls his eyes and shifts to hug him, hiding his face in the taller boy’s neck, where he whispers a “yes” and brushes his lips at his pulse point. Lance wraps his arms around keith’s lower back and rests his head on keiths.


End file.
